Two Weeks and Counting

I traveled out to Nordegg on August 18th.  Two weeks later, on August 31st, I'm still here.  And I intend to stay for a few days longer.  I'm already dreading the return to the city.  It was great that Margarit and Helena were able to join me out here for part of the time.  Mostly I just got a lot of work done.

On August 31st I was up early and put in a full work day.  Unlike the day before when I was lazy and just went out with my camera and played golf.  This was to be the makeup day....!

I was up at 7:30AM and had a shower, leisurely breakfast, and coffee before heading to work at around 10:00AM.  Before doing that I spent about half an hour digging around through all my work areas and boxes of supplies, looking for the recessed trap door handle that I bought some time ago.  I eventually found it, in a box of electrical staples, right where it belonged....!

I attached the microwave cabinet and countertop to the wall in the kitchen of the guest cottage.  Then I caulked the joint between the floor tiles and the cabinet kick on all the kitchen cabinets.

After that I cut and installed subfloor in the small section between the entrance door and the wood stove.  The kitchen range had previously been parked here and with it now out of the way, I was able to complete this.  I posted some pictures previously of the kitchen, but never, until now, a close up of the cool retro range that we have.

Once the subfloor was in place I cut two openings, one in the dinette and the other near the wood stove, for fresh air returns to the basement.

I had to dig my tablesaw out of the garage to cut the last of the subfloor material, so while that was out I also cut up some material for the trap door.  The trap door is located in the bathroom and is the only access to the mechanical and storage areas in our crawlspace.  I built the lid for the trap door, and it is quite substantial.  I consists of a piece of 3/4" plywood, reinforced with an underlayer of similar plywood, and with a layer of underlay added on top to bring it to the same level as the floor around it.  I cut in a recess to allow me to install the flush handle that I had just located.  This was rather involved as it involved cutting through the underlay as well as cutting part way into the plywood with my router.

I cut vinyl tiles to size and mounted them to the face of the trap door.  Then I cut aluminum angle trim to finish and protect the edges.  This was all done outside at a comfortable work level on sawhorses.  When I was done I set the trap door into place and all that remains to do is attach the hinges.

It was around 6:00PM when I finally called it a day and packed things up.  As I was sitting in the bay window having a beer, I watched a black bear come wandering out of my backwoods and down the driveway next door.  The previous owner next door, my good friend Dan, was forced to sell his cottage.  The new owners turned it into an AirBnB... much to my dismay.  The renters would have been alarmed at the sight of the bear, but they were out for the day when he wandered by.  I yelled at the bear, and threw a rock in his general direction.  He scrambled up a tree, and as I continued to holler at him he came back down and took off to the east.  I like bears, and think they are cool, but we just don't need them hanging around the cottage areas.  Nothing good comes of that... usually for the bear...!

Twigs in Snow

I recently processed a batch of Efke PL25M 4" x 5" sheet film.  I really like this film, and shoot it a lot.  It was discontinued a number of years ago, but I continue to shoot with the stock that I have remaining in my freezer.  The expiry date on this particular sheet of film is August of 2008, and most of the stock that I have left has a best before date of around this time.  Development was in Rodinal Developer, 1:50, for 7:00 minutes.  Sadly Rodinal has also been discontinued, but fortunately several other manufactures make a version of it that is virtually identical to the Agfa original.

I shot this out along Shunda Creek, not far from my cottage in Nordegg.  It was taken on February 7th 2023, at around 12:30 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a Nikkor 200mm lens.  A red filter was added to increase contrast.

David Thompson Country Calendar - September Image

This is the image that I selected for the September page of my 2023 David Thompson Country Calendar.  I actually took this shot over a decade ago, in the late summer of 2012.  I found these little mushrooms in the woods along Chungo Creek.  I made a couple of large prints of this image back in the day.  One of them I toned to a sepia color, and it really turned out quite nicely.  I noticed when I was recently out in Nordegg that it is mushroom season once again.  Perhaps it is partly the wet weather we have been having, but late summer seems to be the time of year that they explode to life.

Another Round at the Historic Nordegg Golf Course

On the afternoon of Wednesday August 30th, after Margarit had returned to the city, I played another round of golf at the Historic course in Nordegg.  It was really smokey on this day, and you could just see the layers of smoke blowing in with the wind in the morning.  By afternoon it was just a general haze that enveloped everything.

There was one group starting at the same time as me.  It was a father with two very young sons.  I let them go ahead of me as they were using a cart, and I wanted to take my time.  I played two balls, so that I could play the equivalent of 18 holes, but only walk the course once.  There was no one behind me on the course so I could really take my time.  By the time I was finishing the 9th hole, there were a couple of parties starting out on the first holes.

Once again, I took a backwards step from my previous score.  This time around I shot a 54 with one ball, and a 47 with the other.  I suppose it is small consolation in that if I count the best score of each hole, regardless of the ball, I shot a 43.

This time around I found that my tee shots were OK, but not great.  Distance wise they were pretty good for the most part, but I obviously lack some control.  My fairway shots were terrible, but my chipping is improving.  Putting still has a long way to go.  By the time I improve a little more, the season will be winding down and I'll have to put the clubs away until next year.

Mostly I've played solo this year and I quite enjoy the relaxed pace of play when the course is not busy.  I hope to play one more time before I have to return to the city.

Not Long for this World

In early August my friend and colleague Arturo and I went out for a drive, looking for subject matter to photograph for our Apparitions project.  We returned to an old house that I had photographed a couple of times previously... most recently about seven years ago, in late 2016.  I was amazed at how overgrown the house has become.  

We used to call this place the "Intact House" because it was full of stuff.  A lot of the stuff still remains, but the house is badly deteriorated.  Much of what remains of the belongings has been gone through, with some of it looted.  Even back in the day, around 2015 or 2016, someone stole the railing from around the stairwell.  The floors in the house are now on the verge of collapsing, and the porch is coming down.  A couple more winters and this once majestic old house will become a pile of rubble.

It was interesting to visit again all the same, and I did take a couple of photographs with my view camera.

The black and white photographs below are from scans of 4x5 negatives that were exposed back in 2016.  The color snapshots are phone shots that I took during the recent visit.

Wilcox Pass

On August 27th Margarit and I decided to do the hike up to Wilcox Pass.  We left the cottage about 10:00AM, and it was 11:30 when we got to the Trailhead.  When we entered Banff National Park at Saskatchewan Crossing I was planning to purchase an annual pass to the parks.  But the booth was closed and there was a sign taped to the window that said Please Proceed... so we did.  I guess I will have to buy a new pass next time we come to the park as the one I got last year expired earlier this summer.

Wilcox Pass is beyond Banff, in Jasper National Park, just across the valley from the Columbia Icefields.  As it was a Sunday, and a beautiful day, the park was very busy, and the parking area at the trailhead was full.  We managed to find a spot to park the truck, along the side of the road.

The trail starts out in a dense forest of douglas fir, lodgepole pine and engleman spruce.  It climbs quickly and soon it breaks out above the treeline.  From here the Icefields across the valley and the Visitor Center are clearly visible.  Then it is a long steep push up a rocky slope into the pass itself.  I took my 4x5 view camera along, but lightened the load considerably from what I usually carry.  This time I only brought ReadyLoad film packets and no film holders.  I also limited myself to only four lenses.

The pass itself is very barren and tundra like with Mount Wilcox rising abruptly on the north side.  There is a small lake in the saddle from which a small stream runs down, through a narrow gorge and on into the valley bottom.  This will eventually join up with the Athabasca River and find its way into the Arctic Ocean.

When we got up into the pass some other hikers warned us that some bears had been spotted nearby.  We didn't see them until we were on our way down.  A Mama Grizzly with two cubs was paralleling our route down the trail.  They were on the opposite side of the narrow gorge, and no immediate threat to us.  Once we got further down, there was a spot where a trail crossed over to our side of the stream, and we a little concerned that they appeared to be heading in that direction.  But it seemed they were more interested in hunting ground squirrels and eventually changed directions and headed off back across the slope away from us.  They never really got any closer than about 250 yards from us.

It was a long and strenuous hike, particularly carrying the big camera.  My knees and hips were very tired and sore by the time we made it back down to the truck.  Most of the other hikers, and there were quite a few of them on this day, had left by the time we got down.  The Health App on my phone said that we did  13,184 steps, 5.1 miles round trip.  It also indicated an elevation gain of 79 floors.  The sign at the trailhead said that this was 1000 feet.

September Calendar Image

This is the image I selected for the September Page of my 2023 Fine Art Photography Calendar.  This photograph was taken back in September of 2022.  Chris and Connie and Margarit and I were down in the Crowsnest Pass for the Beer Parlour Project.  One afternoon we hiked up to the ghost town of Lille.  I managed to drag my view camera along on the hike and used it for this shot.  This is the foundation of what was once the hotel.  The nearby coal operations and the town were abandoned over a century ago and there is very little that remains.

More of the Same

On Saturday August 26th the day dawned clear and sunny.  The girls slept in a bit, but I was up at first light.  I had a shower, took Hank outside for a walk, and then put the coffee on.  Eventually the girls got up and joined me.

I went to work over the in guest cottage for a while.  I filled some of the screw holes and subfloor joints in front of the west bedroom.  Then I cut the remaining tiles for the bathroom, and glued them down.  About this time, Margarit and Helena decided to head home to the city.  They took Hank with them, and left a little after noon.

I continued working through the afternoon, and it actually got really warm.... peaking at about 27C.  I split eight more wheelbarrow loads of firewood, and stacked them on the pile down by the firepit.  This is the big pile that we burnt last winter, and it needs to be replenished.  Shawn started to replenish it when he was out with me a few weeks back, and during my most recent visit, I have continued.  I've got most of that woodpile filled back up now.  The big pile of logs behind the cottage, that has been there since we cleared the building site, about seven years ago, is now finally becoming depleted.

I will have to start a new pile of firewood with the last of it.  There is no shortage of wood for the next few years at least.  I have a bunch of cut logs over by the guest cottage that still need to be split and stacked.  And there is lots of deadfall and standing dead stuff that needs to be cut up.

Margarit decided that she will just drop Helena off at home in the city, and then come back out.  We will spend the next few days together at the cottage, and the girls will stay back home in the city.  While I'm waiting for her to return I've started doing dishes, and getting some food ready for a late dinner.

Trail Ride

On Friday August 25th the girls and I headed out around 9:30AM.  We drove for about 45 minutes to the west, out to the Cline River area.  Here there is a riding stable called MacKenzie's Trails West.  It is a family business that has been operating for many years.  We have ridden here in the past, but not since before Covid.

This time around we were on the lunch ride.  We headed out from the base and skirted around the edge of Mount Stelfox.  Then we continued up the valley, generally paralleling the Cline River.  Then we turned north and followed the valley of Coral Creek a little further yet.  After riding for about an hour and a quarter, we stopped in a shady spot for lunch.  The stable had packed a bag lunch of each of us and we spent 45 minutes or so relaxing and enjoying it.

After lunch we got back on the horses, and followed some different trails back to the stables.  Margarit was riding a horse named Whiskey, and Helena was was on Rosie.  I was on a little bigger steed named Mugsy.  They were all typical dude horses and generally just plodded along one after the other, occasionally breaking into a trot.  There is something very relaxing about seeing the world around you from the back of a horse.

Although there were lots of hikers on the trails, and other groups were out for longer and shorter rides, we were on the only ones on the lunch ride.  Just the three of us, and a very pleasant young lady that acted as our guide.  It was a most enjoyable day, but by the time we were done my body reminded me that the muscles used for riding are not the same ones I regularly use.

Flooring Installation Continues

With the exception of a round of golf on Sunday August 20th, I worked full time in the guest cottage pretty much every day.  I continued with installation of the vinyl floor tiles.  This was a somewhat drawn out process as the screw holes and joints in the subfloor have to first be filled.  Then, everything had to be vacuumed free of dust to allow for tile installation.  The tiles that I have are self-adhesive, peel and stick tiles, but I don't really trust the adhesive.  So I have been using a trowel applied adhesive in addition to the adhesive that is already on the tiles.  This makes for some messy work, as I tend to get the glue all over everything...!  But I think in the long run it will be the right choice and I the tiles will adhere better.

On Wednesday I put the base for the microwave cabinet in place and fitted the tiles in around it.  Later I realized that I hadn't allowed enough space for the range, as the counter tops overhung the cabinets a little.  So I had to rip out the base, move it over about an inch, and then redo the tiles around it.

On Thursday August 24th my former neighbor Dan came over and helped me to lift the range into place.  Once this was done I was able to set the microwave cabinet and its section of countertop properly into position.  Surprisingly everything fit really well....!

During the course of the day I made a batch of pork back ribs.  This was in advance of the arrival of Margarit and Helena, who were coming out that evening.  First I baked them in the oven at low temperature for a couple of hours.  Then I moved them over to the smoker for an hour and a half more.  Finally I slathered them with barbecue sauce and finished them on the grill.  They turned out really well, and everyone enjoyed them, but there was a lot left over for another day.